A typical cytological imaging system, such as the Thin Prep Imaging System manufactured and distributed by Cytyc Corporation (www.cytyc.com), includes an imager having high speed camera that captures on the order of several thousand discrete images of a biological sample fixed on a slide, and a processor which digitizes and processes the captured image data for real time or later analysis. An automated movable arm retrieves individual slides from their respective storage locations in a slide cassette, and positions them (one at a time) on an imaging platform of the imager, at which the images are obtained by the camera. When all of the images from the respective slide are taken and processed, the movable arm returns the slide to its storage location, and retrieves a next slide to repeat the process.
Notably, the movable arm can transport the respective slides from/to the slide cassettes significantly faster than they can be processed by the imager, as the taking and processing a relatively large amount of pictures is relatively slow, tied to both the camera speed and the processing speed of the imager. For example, in a current commercial version of the Thin Prep Imaging System, the imager takes approximately four minutes to acquire and process approximately two-thousand images of each specimen slide. As such, the slide transport movable arm experiences significant down town while each slide is processed.